


But Seriously, Where Are We?

by MellytheHun



Series: Kylux Week 2016 [4]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Flirting, Comedy, Flirting, Fluff, Humor, Inappropriate Humor, Kylux Week 2016, M/M, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, Rescue, Rescue Missions, Romance, Tumblr Prompt, tumbler event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 01:59:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8825749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellytheHun/pseuds/MellytheHun
Summary: Kylux Week 2016 Day 6 (December 10th): Battle Aftermath





	

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is late, but I've had a lot going on! ; __ ; sorry! <3

Scouring the still-steaming battlefield for bright red hair and a fiery, resilient aura, Kylo removes his mask for a better look around. 

Stormtroopers and infantry-trained officers lie dead and wounded every which way, crowding his vision. Some are dead, some are clinging to life very barely and – a downfall of being so in touch with the Force – Kylo can feel all of these spirits rising, all of them grasping at him for aid, wanting so desperately to live, unknowingly reaching for him and dragging his attentions away from his real mission. 

He is only interested in saving one man he knows has fallen and it is the one energy he cannot seem to find.

If passion feeds the Dark side of the Force, fear is what untethers it. 

And Kylo’s fear is mounting.

Troopers and officers that recognize him call for him as he passes by – some even physically go to touch him, drag him by the calf or ankle, beg for help, but he stops for no one and nothing.

With the single swipe of his arm, he puts out fires and clears smog and smoke so that he can get a better view of the grounds, but he cannot see Hux anywhere.

Kylo thinks to himself that he _cannot_ find Hux beyond healing or help – it’s a reality he absolutely denies to entertain. Hux must be alright – any wound Kylo will mend, if he’s at Death’s door, Kylo will pull him back from it and if he’s fucking lying somewhere disemboweled, Kylo will rearrange his organs and get him to safety.

Not saving Hux is not an option.

All he can imagine is Hux’s cobalt eyes in the dark, his hair like a flame against the white of snow, his hands checking Kylo for vitals, telling him he’ll be fine, that a rescue pod is on its way, not so much as insulting him for his failures, for the collapse of Starkiller – he tells himself he cannot live with this life debt unpaid.

He cannot have allowed Hux to save him from Starkiller and then come too late in Hux’s hour of need. 

He wonders if Hux thought of him while he fought – if Hux is thinking of him at this very moment and waiting for him, if Hux thought of him as he fell to an enemy’s hand and Kylo banishes that path of wonder. It burns too much to think of more than that.

A life debt is heavy, but Kylo is strong enough to bear it the rest of his days. To relieve that debt might lighten his heavy load, but it means little in the grand scheme of things. He knows precisely why he cares so much about finding Hux and it has almost nothing to do with what happened on Starkiller.

The Knights of Ren are spread out behind him, all talking, talking, _talking_ – Kylo can’t even tell if it’s telepathic or not anymore. All he can tell is that it is distracting him and that won’t do.

“ _Silence_!”

Dutifully, the Knights quiet down and Kylo stops moving, stops storming in some one direction he has no way of knowing is right or wrong. He stands still, draws his posture up high, drops his helmet and ungloves his hands. 

There is fire crackling all around him, people weeping, groaning in pain, gasping their last breaths, shifting in the dirt, but it all means nothing without Hux. This victory is meaningless without him and Kylo _must find him_.

Tilting his head back and shutting his eyes, Kylo spreads his arms out, turns his palms up and breathes deeply into his diaphragm. He blocks out the sounds of those injured, those calling his name, souls groping at him like a lifeline. He finds his center, suppressing the rising panic.

_Tell me where to go. Grandfather. Show me. Lead me to him. Please._

When no answer comes, he squashes the heat building behind his eyes and uncaps the Light in him, letting it flow from him like a honing beacon.

“Please…” he whispers aloud.

His head throbs in pain suddenly and he audibly gasps at its sharpness, scrunching his eyes shut with a furrowed brow. He holds his forehead and is about to lose his temper and just make a warpath in every direction until he finds the General when it dawns on him – this is not _his_ pain.

His eyes fly open, wide and hyper-focused. 

“He’s alive,” Kylo mutters to himself, awash with relief and gladness, “His head hurts. He’s been hurt… where is he…?”

His head throbs again and Kylo welcomes the pain and visualizes it as a cord, something sprouting from the very center of him and leading to wherever Hux might be. It glows, golden and shimmering and Kylo knows it will lead him to Hux.

“Thank you, Grandfather,” Kylo nearly weeps aloud, “Thank you – _thank you_ –“

He follows the cord, jumping over bodies, moving faster than any human really can – there are times he uses the Force without meaning to, the way he did when he was an untrained child. When he’s pressed for time, he can levitate – he can almost fly, but it only happens in times like this. Times when it feels as if all the universe is dangling on a razor’s edge.

Then, blessedly, he sees the shine of familiar auburn hair – leaning against the back of a thick tree trunk. He hurries into the wooded area and when he reaches Hux, he can tell what happened instantly; Hux, reloading his weapon, using the shadow of the trees to keep cover and someone sneaking up from behind. There was a ground fight – there’s a dark bruise settling over Hux’s left cheekbone, his lip is split and there’s a fairly deep fracture in his left tibia. 

He’s lightly concussed and Kylo can tell this happened from being throttled against the ground – there are telling bruises around Hux’s neck where his attacker was likely holding him, whacking his head back and forth in the hopes of either strangling him or beating his skull in. 

Kylo would violently end that attacker’s life this very moment, if he weren’t already dead at Hux’s hand. 

It would appear Hux managed to embed a dagger into his attacker’s lungs, which flooded with blood – Hux took the opportunity to overpower his attacker and then killed him slowly. The dead man lies in the brush opposite of Hux – he is sporting more wounds than Hux and the hilt of a dagger is sticking out from neck, but clearly, with the element of surprise on his side, he got a good shot at Hux. In seven standard years of knowing Hux, Kylo has never seen him so injured in a fight.

Kylo kneels down beside Hux, petting back his hair, unnerved by the way Hux’s head lolls limply to the side. Kylo needs Hux to open his eyes – he has no way of knowing how long Hux has been unconscious, but Hux is wise enough to know that one should never sleep after receiving a serious head wound. That only implies that he has been stranded here, unable to walk or get to safety, for much longer than he ought to have been.

“Hux,” Kylo starts, cupping the side of his bruised face, “I’m here. Come on. Open your eyes.”

There is no response and one is unlikely to come – Kylo settles himself directly next to Hux and presses his temple to Hux’s, allowing himself very careful, gentle access into Hux’s frontal lobe. He traverses weakly firing synapses, looks for hemorrhaging, swelling, broken bits of skull possibly floating around in the spinal fluid, but there are no serious wounds. Just a light concussion.

_Wake up, Hux. I need to see that you’re alright._

**_Ren_** – there is immediate recognition of Kylo’s voice from the deep, wooded caverns of Hux’s labyrinthine mind and then an _enormous_ current of reassurance, solace, respite and security floods into Kylo from Hux’s feedback. 

_Yes_ , Kylo answers, smiling against Hux’s cheekbone, _I’m here. Open your eyes for me. I know you can._

Sacrificing some of his own physical energy and feeding it into Hux, Kylo withdraws from Hux’s head and watches his eyes move from under his lids, as if he were dreaming. It appears as if he tries to open his eyes, but is too weak to do so. He’s partially aware, though – he is hanging onto consciousness at the promise of Kylo’s protection and Kylo could not be made happier.

“Ren…”

It’s a croak, it’s a hoarse, painful sound, but it’s still _beautiful_ to Kylo. He can’t help but smile in return – his face is far too near to Hux’s, but he can’t bring himself to care. Not now.

“Yes, Hux. I’m right here,” Kylo repeats, “Listen to me – we need to get you to the ship and quickly. I’m going to numb the pain in your leg as much as I can, but no matter what I do, it will be disturbed. I can’t have you trying to leap out of my arms or anything. Alright?”

“Mmm – ‘oing ta’ carry me?”

“Yes, Hux, I’m going to carry you,” Kylo replies, grinning madly – he can’t even help it.

Hux is _alive_. Hux is going to be _fine_ and right now he’s a bit concussed – just loopy enough to give Kylo something to laugh at and that’s perfectly fine. Everything is perfect and fine forever because _Hux is alive_. 

He’s so elated that Hux is okay, nothing can drown out the Light bursting from the core of him and he has no want to smother it as he usually does. He’s rather sure it was the Light that lead him here, to Hux’s side. He’s thankful for it, so he fosters it, shares some of it with Hux’s body, breathing some life into his rattling lungs.

Without much else being agreed upon, Kylo lifts Hux in a bridal carry and it’s the lift that gets Hux’s foggy eyes to finally flutter open.

“ _Ah_! M’leg! Ca’ful of my leg, Ren…”

“Sorry, Hux, I did warn you, though.”

“Warn me ‘bout what? Where’re we? Mm’I flying?”

Kylo’s brow pinches.

_Light concussion has been upgraded to mild concussion, then_. (At least.)

“No, not quite. You feel like you’re flying?” Kylo asks, thinking to himself that seeing Hux this disoriented should be disconcerting, but it’s really rather funny now that he knows Hux will be fine.

“Air’s nice on m’face. So pretty. Yours is. Your face. You’re so pretty. Good work, that.”

Kylo laughs and steps over more bodies, glancing down to the General every few beats to make sure he’s awake still.

“Yeah?”

“Mm, yeah,” Hux replies airily, his arms squirming until one can reach Kylo’s chin and touch there with the tips of his fingers, “So pretty. Ren. V’ry pretty. Where’re we?”

“Battlefield, Hux,” Kylo answers with a ludicrous smile, “Remember fighting at all? Getting knocked in the head maybe?”

Pouting and scowling petulantly, Hux’s blurry, unfocused eyes settle somewhere on Kylo’s face with disdain.

“I’m going to the med bay, aren’t I?”

“You most certainly are, I’m afraid.”

Hux groans loudly and dramatically like a child, tossing his head back and shutting his eyes, as if getting medical treatment is the worst thing to befall him yet.

“No going to sleep,” Kylo warns, picking up his pace, “Hux? You hear me? No going –“

“Yeah, yeah, no res’ for the wicked,” Hux tells him and then finds himself in a fit of giggles for no apparent reason.

Kylo shakes his head fondly, trying not to catch Hux’s contagious laughter, thinking the General could use more whacks to the head if it’ll make him this agreeable. 

“Did a good number on your leg,” Kylo chides.

“Fuckin’ stepped on’it, the brute!”

_Brute?_ Kylo thinks, his cheeks getting sore at Hux’s expense. He sounds like catty and scandalized lady of class, talking like he is. It’s a little endearing.

“Ren?”

“Yes?”

“Where’re we?”

“Alright, how about you just rest your head up here,” Kylo instructs, tucking Hux’s head more under his chin and into the crook of his neck, “and you keep talking to me until we get to the ship.”

“Talk about what?”

“Whatever you like. It’ll only take a moment.”

Hux hums thoughtfully and Kylo feels it vibrate against his neck, giving him chills.

“I’d like ta’ shag you sometime, y’know,” Hux slurs, “Think ‘bout it before I fight – gets me fired up.”

Blood rushes up Kylo’s face and when he asks Hux to expound on that thought, Hux all too gladly does – oh, he’s been thinking about it for so long! Isn’t Kylo supposed to be a mind-reader or some business? How could Kylo not know Hux would like to fuck his mouth every time he talks back or bucks authority? Wasn’t he thinking it terribly loudly? What good is the Force, exactly, if it can’t be used for nefarious, sexually deviant behavior?

Hux is _very_ eager to share and he even seems to forget he’s talking aloud at all at some point – goes off on some tangential rant about anatomical proportions and how absolutely sure he is that Kylo’s girth will be a perfect measure to fit inside him while maintaining the ‘good side,’ of hurt and he’s made a graph in his office, Phasma makes fun of it, he could show Kylo if he’d like – no, the issue is not that Hux doesn’t want to share, the issue is that eventually Kylo reunites with the Knights and has the unprecedented challenge of trying to shut up General Hux of the First Order before he blathers too loudly about how he’s really fine about Kylo being uncircumcised since it’s the conclusion he’s drawn, though he could be wrong, he just really wants Kylo to know it’s fine either way – 

Retrieving Hux alive and well on his way back to good health is reward enough, but no good deed goes unpunished; thus, the entirety of the rescue pod is subject to explicit inquiries spouting entirely uncensored from Hux’s mouth and the recurring question of, “hey – where’re we?”


End file.
